Eastern Avenue, the Studio District apparently. This is east of Broadview.

This weekend is Doors Open Toronto – one of the buildings that I toured was Filmport – not very interesting actually when studios and sets are closed to the public. I did get to see some of the rooms where the actors hang out when they’re not filming and where they have lunch. ‘Kim’s Convenience’ is filming there at the moment.

below: Two older buildings. In the foreground is Consumers Gas Building, now home to Avenue Rugs. In the background is one of two identical buildings now used by the City of Toronto. 433 Eastern Avenue is one of four sites in the city – here they house street cleaners and other city trucks, they monitor traffic, and produce street signs like the one at the top of this blog post (transportation services) – for the southeastern part of the city. Other city departments also have offices here.

The next three photos are from the same mural. It was painted in 2016 by Omen with help from Five8, Horus, and Peru. It tells the story of city building, from the planning stages – blueprints and architectural drawings, through the construction phase to the final product.

below: The Tasty Restaurant sign is still there although it is now missing the round coca-cola discs at each end. Someone must have realized that they were worth something. All the red from the sign is gone and the words have turned to rust. Does anyone have any idea how long ago this restaurant went out of business?

below: Another oldie but goodie, Gales Snack Bar. More than 80 years old in fact.

below: A closer look reveals a closed sign in the window. It’s still in business but I was there too early. On Saturdays it doesn’t open until noon so I just missed it. Next time!

below: What’s hiding in the grass? A blue fish? A pink flamingo? A Christmas wreath?

There are a surprising number of houses between Queen East and the Lakeshore (Eastern runs parallel to those street, in between them) in this area. Most are old but well looked after and many of those that have seen rough times are being renovated and fixed up.

below: This photo was taken from the parking lot of the old Weston bakery on Eastern Avenue. The site is about to be developed into condos. The Wonder Condos. With Wonder being written like the word on the loaf of bread. That bland white bread.

below: A vacant lot waiting for its turn.

below: The Portlands Railway Spur, looking east from Morse Street and along Lakeshore Blvd.

I didn’t find Babylon

below: .. but I found a bike. Did anyone lose one? Beware of bike eating trees!

Recently I saw a blogTO article about “A massive Overwatch mural” that was being painted on King Street West. I was curious so off I went to check it out.

below: Here is the mural. Yes it’s big, but massive no. When I think massive I think Phlegm’s mural at Yonge and St. Clair, or Adrian Hayles music murals near Yonge and College. And whoa, what’s that in the bottom right corner? This is an ad for a video game and this is a picture of Karya, one of the characters. Under the heading of ‘you never know where things are going to lead’ – Overwatch is a multi-player team game where competitions are held and prizes won. There is an Overwatch World Cup which was won by South Korea in both 2016 and 2017. This year there was a Canadian team and they came second. Yeah Canada!

below: Around the corner is another mural. This one is painted onto the side of an old brick building by Omen514. As you can see, it is part of the most recent ad campaign by Sick Kids Hospital to raise 1.3 billion dollars to rebuild the hospital starting with the building at Elm and Elizabeth streets. The black and white of the mural matches the black and white of the video advertising. Omen514 had help from Nick Sweetman, Earth Crusher, Poser, and Five S, all of whom are street artists as well.

below: … And another mural in the same neighbourhood. This one is on the side of the Kiin restaurant (Thai) and as you can see, the name of the restaurant is in the mural. Again, street art but not street art. Whatever you choose to call it, it’s much more appealing than a blank grey wall.

below: Businesses, such as Champs Food Supplies pictured here, have been using murals to draw attention to themselves for a long time.

below: It is still standing even as it’s being dwarfed by the condo developments around it.

below: And even farther back in time – This is the MacLean building that was built in 1914 (designed by George Wallace Gouinlock). It is at 345 Adelaide St. West, and the sign is on the east side of building. Hugh C. MacLean publications was founded in 1909 by Hugh Cameron MacLean. It published mostly trade journals such as ‘Footwear in Canada’. The company was bought by the Southam family and become Southam-Macleans… and then finally Southam Business Publications in 1964. As it turns out, there were two MacLeans brothers in the publishing business, Hugh and brother John Bayne MacLean who founded the MacLean publishing company that would eventually become MacLean Hunter – the home of MacLeans magazine before it was swallowed up by Rogers Media.

below: This ghost sign is actually a double. The words ‘head office’ can be seen by the word MacLean and there is a box to the left of that. The number 33 is on the box and obviously means something. I haven’t been able to decipher the rest of the sign.

And then there is street art that is just that, decorations on a wall.

After I took the above photos and before I had finished writing this blog post, I came across another Sick Kids fundraising murals by the same artists as the one above.

below: Looking north up Broadview at Thompson street, just north of Queen.

below: The central portion of the mural.

below: In the mural the kids are collecting pieces of lumber, pipes, and concrete blocks. This is similar to the ad where kids are “running through city streets and alleyways, gathering building materials and running to an empty piece of land ready for construction.” (source)

Another new pair of murals painted under a bridge.
This time, they’re close to Warden subway station.

Warden subway station is on the southeast corner of Warden and St. Clair. Just east of that intersection the subway passes over St. Clair.

The north side of the underpass

The north side of the underpass is dedicated to the woman who worked filling fuses for the General Engineering Company (Canada) Ltd., a WW2 munitions plant that was located nearby. More about the history of GECO.

The south side of the underpass

The south side portrays the establishment of Scarborough Junction in 1873. This was when a second rail line and commercial hub was built in the area.

Scarborough post office and Everest & Sons’ General store. The latter was built in 1873 in Scarborough Junction.

The murals were painted by Montreal-based street artist Omen. They are also the result of a collaboration between the city-led art program StreetARToronto, not-for-profit arts organization Mural Routes, local historians and city councillor Michelle Berardinetti.